Missile manufacturer BDL to have Rs 25K crore orders

Hyderabad: Missile and allied defence equipment manufacturer Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) expects to have an order book of Rs 25,000 crore over the next five years including Rs 8,084 crore orders currently on hand.

The only defence public sector undertaking to manufacture and supply guided missiles to the Indian armed forces, it hopes to bag orders of another Rs 8,000 crore in next two years.

BDL Chairman and Managing Director, Commodore Siddharth Mishra (retd.) told reporters on Tuesday that except four export orders from one country, all orders are from the Indian armed forces.

It is is currently manufacturing anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) like MILAN-2T, Konkurs-M, Invar, surface-to-air missiles like Akash and MRSAM, underwater weapons like light-weight torpedo (Tal), heavy-weight torpedo (Varunastra), C-303 and counter measures dispensing systems for various aircraft platforms of the Indian Air Force.

The existing orders will be executed by 2023-24 and includes Akash systems, and ATGMs Konkurs and Invar missiles. The company will be manufacturing 5,000 Konkurs missiles.

The BDL also has confirmed orders from Indian Navy for Varunastra. Heavy-weight torpedo is the main weapon system used for Indian naval ships.

The company, which has three manufacturing units in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, plans to set up a facility at Amaravati in Maharashtra for manufacturing of VSHORADS missiles. Though it has acquired the land, the infrastructure will be created based on the orders. It is likely to come up at a cost of Rs 300 crore.

The BDL, which entered its 50th year on Tuesday, is developing third generation missiles which will be ready by next year. It is also looking at fourth and fifth generation missile technology in collaboration with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

Till now, the company manufactured second generation missiles, which were wire-guided. Third generation missiles have fire-and-forget capability and have their own guide in the form of a seeker.

The company has MoU with Thales, UK for Starstreak missiles. It is also in talks with various OEMS to get new technologies.

Mishra hoped that the exports would go up, helping the company to reach the goal of 10 per cent exports set by the government. "We have already got four orders from a friendly foreign country. We are also looking for other countries for exporting weapons. We have got clearance for exporting Tal, Varunastra, ATGM Milan," he said.

The BDL is also participating in research along with the DRDO in a small way. It R&D unit is working on development of its own ATGM called Amogha III, which it is planning to field by next year.

He said BDL was engaged in co-development programmes with the DRDO for QR SAM, Akash 1S, Akash NG, MPATGM, ASTRA and sonobuoys.

ASTRA is an air-to-air missile beyond visual range while and Akash1S will have a seeker.

With revenues of Rs 3,069 crore in 2018-19, the company had a de-growth over the previous year, when it earned Rs 4,586 crore.

BDL Director (Finance) S. Piramanayagam attributed this to technical issues. He was confident of a growth in the top line during the current year.